WASHINGTON/MOSCOW: US President Donald Trump said that Russia and Ukraine would begin negotiations for a ceasefire “immediately” after he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the prolonged conflict.
“Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform after the call, adding that the “tone and spirit of the conversation were excellent.” “If it weren’t, I would say so now, rather than later,” Trump said. The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of,” Trump said on Truth Social.
“Russia wants to do large-scale trade with the United States when this catastrophic ‘bloodbath’ is over, and I agree. There is a tremendous opportunity for Russia to create massive amounts of jobs and wealth. Its potential is unlimited,” Trump continued. He also said that Ukraine “can be a great beneficiary of Trade.” Trump said he immediately informed the following leaders about the contents of the call after it ended: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Finnish President Alexander Stubb.
“The Vatican, as represented by the Pope, has stated that it would be very interested in hosting the negotiations. Let the process begin!” Trump added. Putin says Russia ready to work with Ukraine and agreed with US leader Donald Trump that Moscow would propose a “memorandum” worked on with Ukraine outlining positions for a “possible” future peace deal.
Putin commented after speaking to Trump by phone in a call he said lasted more than two hours. The Russian leader said Istanbul talks last week between Moscow and Kyiv put the world on the “right path” towards ending the Ukraine conflict, which started in February 2022.
Russia will propose and will be ready to work with the Ukrainian side on a memorandum on a possible future peace agreement defining a range of positions,” Putin told Russian media after his call with Trump. He said the document could outline “the principles of settlement, the timing of a possible peace agreement and so on — including a possible ceasefire for a certain period if appropriate agreements are reached”.
Putin gave no more details on the “memorandum”. Putin thanked Trump for enabling the first direct talks between Kyiv and Moscow in more than three years. “Contact between participants of the meeting and negotiations in Istanbul — this contact was restarted and it gives us the basis to think that on the whole we are on the right path,” Putin said. He said both Moscow and Kyiv should show “maximum” effort to find “compromises that would suit all sides”. Putin described his call with Trump as “very useful.”
Meanwhile, the Kremlin said that Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, during a two-hour call, discussed a new potential new prisoner swap between the two countries and were both in favour of normalising ties. The leaders spoke for the third time since Trump took office this year in a call mostly focused on resolving the three-year Ukraine conflict. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said the pair had discussed “swapping nine people for nine people” — without giving any details on which prisoners. Russia and the United States have held several prisoner exchanges in recent years, with the biggest East-West swap taking place last year. Ushakov said Putin and Trump were in favour of improving Moscow-Washington ties. “Both expressed they were in favour of the further normalisation of ties,” he said. The Kremlin also said that Putin had discussed issues around Iran with Trump.
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